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Settling with a collection company and possibility of being sued for remaining balance?


getreadygonow
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Hi, I will be settling with all my creditors.  I became sick and my disability case took YEARS long story short I ran through my entire life savings and could no longer pay any bills.  I'm starting with a small card and working my way up to the larger balances but here is my question.  I live in New York and will be settling with a collection company.  The original creditor says that this collection company has been assigned the debt and I cannot settle with them directly.  

 

The letter states they are authorized to accept xyz amount in full settlement.  My worry is I'll pay this amount and someone else will come after me for the rest can anyone provide any insight?  Any help is greatly appreciated 

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As long as your stipulation letter say they agree to accept this as payment in full, that they will not sell this account to any other company's, you should be ok. Not to say they won't sell it, but you keep that letter so that if another tries to sue you, you can show it was paid. (Then sue the collection co. That sold it for breach of contract)

How long ago did you default on accounts? If you don't pay it off in one lump sum, and you default again, you will have reset the statues of limitations.

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As long as your stipulation letter say they agree to accept this as payment in full, that they will not sell this account to any other company's, you should be ok. Not to say they won't sell it, but you keep that letter so that if another tries to sue you, you can show it was paid. (Then sue the collection co. That sold it for breach of contract)

How long ago did you default on accounts? If you don't pay it off in one lump sum, and you default again, you will have reset the statues of limitations.

Hmmm the letter doesn't say that they won't sell it to any other company's but it does say they will accept 500 in full settlement of the above referenced account.  The letter also identifies the creditor and the last four digits of the account number.  The last payment was 2009 and i will be paying the full settled amount in one shot but not the full amount of the actual balance that was owed

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You need to tell them your terms. Don't just take what they say. Who owns the debt? Did the original creditor sell it?

The Original creditor still owns the debt, so should i call them back and tell them to specifically state that I cannot be sued for the remaining balance and or that they will not sell the remaining balance to another creditor?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Generally, the answer is no, you cannot be sued. When a lender reaches a settlement agreement, they will write the loan off as paid in full and count the rest of the loan as a loss and close the loan. Have your credit report checked often so you can keep an eye out for any changes or other claims that may come around after you settle. If this occurs you could go about challenging those other claims on that same loan for which you reached the agreement.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi, I will be settling with all my creditors.  I became sick and my disability case took YEARS long story short I ran through my entire life savings and could no longer pay any bills.  I'm starting with a small card and working my way up to the larger balances but here is my question.  I live in New York and will be settling with a collection company.  The original creditor says that this collection company has been assigned the debt and I cannot settle with them directly.  

 

The letter states they are authorized to accept xyz amount in full settlement.  My worry is I'll pay this amount and someone else will come after me for the rest can anyone provide any insight?  Any help is greatly appreciated 

I have a lot of experience in settling alleged debts with the OC as well as OC assigned collectors (very different from JDB).  Here is EXACTLY how it works.

 

The Debt that does not get paid for 180 days gets charged off by the OC.  In most cases they DO NOT immediately sell the debt to a JDB, instead they hire a collection agency (CA) to collect on their behalf.  While the debt is to be collected by said CA, THEY ARE UNDER CONTRACT, THEY CANNOT by contract settle with you during this time frame.  THE TIME FRAME VARIES BY CONTRACT.  An OC will give a CA number 1, for example, 4 months to collect on said debt.  The CA can and WILL change as time passes, so BEFORE any settlement is made, ALWAYS contact the OC first and have them transfer you to the current CA handling your collections.

 

When CA number 1 initially gets the debt, they will try to get it all, and slowly give you better offers, up until the point where the debt is about to be handed back to the OC.  AFTER this contract, the debt WILL be handed back to the OC for some sort of time frame.  It is then handled by the OC for between 1-4 weeks, and then contracted to a new CA.  Once again, CA number 2 is collecting on the OC behalf and the OC WILL NOT DEAL WITH YOU DIRECTLY.  The ONLY time you can deal with the OC after a charge off is while there is NOT a CA assigned to your account.  Believe it or not, you may well be able to strike a better deal with the contracted CA than the OC itself.  I found this out the hard way.  The peace of mind of dealing with the OC might make this worth it to you, I'm not sure of your situation.

 

========== DETAILED EXAMPLE ==========

 

1. Credit card A is charged off by OC after 180 days of non payment we will say this happens on 1/1/13.  This really doesn't mean anything to you, this is for the OCs books.  It will however show on your credit report as charged off.

2. On 1/14/13 the OC contracts the collections to CA#1.  While CA#1 is collecting for this debt, the OC CAN NOT DEAL WITH YOU DIRECTLY!  You may receive letters from multiple collectors about the same debt but ONLY ONE CA IS AUTHORIZED TO COLLECT FOR THE OC!!! CALL THE OC TO FIND OUT

3. On 5/22/13 CA#1 has failed to collect on credit card A, and the account is passed back to the OC.  At this point when you call the OC, they will transfer you to their internal Resolution Center (internal collectors)  OC will typically settle between 30-50%

4. On 6/5/13 the OC contracts the account to CA#2.  While CA#2 is collecting for this debt, THE OC CANNOT DEAL WITH YOU DIRECTLY!!! you may receive letters from multiple, but only one can be "trusted" (in quotes because none of them can be trusted, GET EVERYTHING IN WRITING)

5. On 9/5/13 CA#2 has failed to collect on said debt, and the account will be handed back to the OC.  You will have another Short to VERY SHORT time to deal directly with the OC.  If you want to deal with the OC, these are the only times that you can.  Once it gets bounced off again, you will be dealing with 3rd party CA who is collecting on behalf of OC.

6. On 9/25/13 the OC contracts the account to CA#3.  and so on and so on and so on.

 

======================================

 

Get EVERYTHING in writing.  Read this blog for his anatomy of a good settlement letter:

http://www.zipdebt.com/blog/debt-settlement-letters

 

This is what is true as far as I know based on settling multiple alleged debts over the last year, making over 100 phone calls, and talking to supervisors on many occasions.

 

Good luck!

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  • 6 months later...

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